Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - October 6, 2016

Happy Thursday! Thanks for popping in to Thinking Out Loud Thursday and joining me and Vanessa from X-tremely V for this week's installment.

So today I'm thinking (I should say STILL thinking) about how exciting the day was last Friday. Eric, Kayla, my parents and I gathered in Jefferson City, Missouri to witness Ian taking his oath of attorney in front of the Missouri Supreme Court. Tears still gather in my eyes as I reflect on what a wonderful day it was.

As parents, we all wonder if we're "doing it right". These children of ours don't come with instruction manuals and we all have those moments when we look back and know we could have handled certain situations differently. But last Friday, as I watched Ian reach for his certificate certifying him as a member of the Missouri Bar, I felt somewhere along the way I must have done something right. Pride oozed from every fiber of my being. After years of hard work and determination, Ian had reached a goal he had wanted since he was a little boy.

If you're read my blog, you might remember that I was a single parent from the time Ian was 2 until he was 10. We've all read the negative impact divorce has on children and those statistics would literally keep me up at night with worry. By divorcing his father, what had I done to my child? Would he be able to live as normally as a household with two parents? With the high school dropout rate of children of divorced parents being roughly two times higher, would he finish high school? Go to college? Would he become part of the statistic that children are fifty percent more likely to develop health problems than two parent families? All of these things are very scary. Things no one wants for their children!

Now, let me make something VERY clear -- I am NOT suggesting that everyone should run out and get a divorce. But what I am saying is if you are a single parent laying awake at night worrying about the welfare of your children, there is hope. More than hope really, there is promise. You can make their lives as wonderful and magical as you want it to be. There may not be money for extravagant trips or new clothes for every occasion, but you can love them as much as humanly possible and find ways to make their lives full of happy memories. Don't let the fact that you are a single parent stand in your way of raising truly magnificent children!

What are you thinking out loud about today? Join us by linking up below and sharing your thoughts.

What a proud Mom you must be! Congratulations to your son, passing the bar is an accomplishment he and you as his mom should be proud of! Thanks for sharing this on #shinebloghop this week. Always happy to have you join us, Penny!